10 October 2011

Motivation and demotivation #nlpoli #nlvotes

“When it's hard to motivate people to become engaged to get out and to cast their ballot, then you have a concern about that.”

That’s a quote CBC used out as part of a story that focuses, curiously enough, on how one political leader and only one political leader is responding to an issue in the election: lack of apparent voter interest.

The story casts Kathy Dunderdale in the role of impartial election commentator not as the leader of a political party who is – quite obviously – failing to motivate people to vote for her and her fellow Tories.

The story also mentions poll results to make sure no one forgets what election reporting is really all about. There at the post… yada yada yada

Dunderdale’s not alone. All three leaders have that problem – failing to inspire voters positively - but it varies from party to party.

Dunderdale is the one whose inability to find any energy in her campaign stands in stark contrast to her slogan.

Now when news media do this sort of reporting, there’s no giant conspiracy. It’s just a sign of how much reporting in this province has become an adjunct of the political system.

The political story of the parties struggling against voter disinterest or the Tories and Dippers fighting in St,. John’s is is part of the real story of this election and, right up until the end, CBC and every other news media outlet in the province has ignored it.

Why are people so unmoved by the politicians? And if they are moved, at least in St. John’s, why is it to move from the Tories to the NDP?

Fascinating stuff.

But you’ll never find it in the conventional media.

There it’s all horse races and Kathy Dunderdale and others with an interest in the campaign framing their stories for themselves.